Virtual tours can get you places even when your work won’t allow it. — 123rf.com
Calls to return to work grew louder once the threat posed by Covid-19 subsided and the economy began to recover.
Adjusting to the new normal meant giving up working from exotic locales, leaving many digital nomads longing for adventure.
That’s where digital and virtual reality (VR) tourism comes in – it allows anyone to experience new and exciting locations without actually leaving their home.
Visiting virtually
For those stuck overseas longing for a taste of home or locals who simply want to expand their view of authentic Malaysian attractions, lokalocal.com offers a collection of 360° self-guided tours of various tourist destinations across the country.
These tours can be viewed on computers, smartphones, and in VR if you have a headset available, and include culturally rich destinations like George Town and Kuching, along with educational sites such as the Telegraph Museum and the Telekom Museum.
The tours on lokalocal also usually have a voice-over sharing tidbits and the history of the location, with each video lasting about three hours at the longest.
For those keen on a larger selection of art galleries and museums alongside heritage sites, Google’s arts and culture portal lets users explore exhibition venues and landmarks with Street View.
Though Street View lacks audio voice-overs, it makes up for it with the sheer number of locations available, and users could be exploring the Taj Mahal one moment and the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum the next.
There is still, however, an on-rails option featuring 360° videos that come with voice-over, though these are usually shorter, under 10 minutes.
The portal also hosts high definition photographs of art pieces, which gives fans a chance to get an even closer look than if they were at the gallery in person, allowing them to view every last detail.
Certain tourist hotspots like museums, landmarks and heritage sites have their own websites too, with self-guided tours that support desktop, smartphone and VR.
This includes Machu Picchu, which has at least three different websites hosting its very own self-guided tours.
But all of these have something in common: they lack a live guide.
Live tours
For those seeking a guided experience from a local, don’t fret, as there’s a separate option to cater for just that.
Heygo.com, for example, is a platform where tour guides sign up to do interactive tours over livestream.
These tours are interactive in the sense that a guide will be able to see messages from viewers and respond to them in real-time as they give their tour, which can be in all manner of locations.
Generally, tours on Heygo are free, with the option to tip guides or broadcasters – you can join a tour that’s currently live or book one that’s been scheduled for later.
Another option is Toursbylocals.com, which similarly offers livestreamed tours with a guide showing viewers the local sights and sounds but, unlike Heygo, requires a fee for each tour.
A slight downside for both of these live guided options is that they’re only compatible with computers and mobile devices, which leaves out VR.
Digital distractions
Some other worthwhile mentions, despite not strictly being particularly “touristy” experiences, are Window-Swap and Geoguessr, which can be nice ways to break up the day-to-day mundanity.
Window-Swap.com is a nifty website that will display videos of window views uploaded by its users, ranging from cityscapes to country vistas.
The ability to pick views by landscape, weather, time of day, and country will require a US$5 (RM22) monthly subscription.
Geoguessr.com, on the other hand, is a browser game that drops players onto Street View, challenging them to guess where they are.
Some players create their selection of locations based on certain themes, like heritage sites and major cities, or even places famous from movies or F1 tracks.
Of course, all of the virtual tours and experiences are not going to be as enthralling as or a replacement for being physically there to absorb the sights, sounds and even smells in person.
But for globetrotters yearning for the sights of the world, perhaps this could help with their travel plans while whetting their appetite for their next trip.
